Back to Cullinan Park

 My friend Don took Brays and Keegans Trails to my house this morning.   After a breakfast of coffee cake, eggs and bacon, we headed, via residential streets to Cullinan Park, just North of the Sugar Land Airport.   This was our second bike visit to the park.  A very enjoyable part of the ride is the Imperial development North of Constellation Park.   Lots of green space and many well-maintained paths.   

The picture of the deer was taken earlier this week, from my car.  Mommy and two fawns were not more than 50 feet from me, along the main road into the park.   They never bolted, but I was being watched as much as I was watching them.  This scene is less than a mile North of the airport, within the city of Sugar Land.

I thought we had learned our lesson the last time we were there, so we set out to follow established trails with markings and the occasional sign.   Sure.   What could go wrong?   Wide, civilized paths suitable for senior citizens quickly gave way to narrow tracks through and around saplings.   It was thoroughly enjoyable, but I did rededicate my life when we got back to the parking lot.   I don't have a picture of the blind, hard-left turn that dropped about 6 feet and ran across a rickety plank bridge.   Apparently, they couldn't afford railings, or for that matter, trimming of the underbrush.   Those of you who do not remember when bikes made-in-America will probably say "Again!"

I did take comfort in knowing there was a limit to how lost we could get, as the map showed water along several boundaries of the trail area, and I had not brought the floats for the bikes.  Sure enough, as we thought we were totally lost, we pedaled around a corner and found ourselves back at the main area.   

The website for the park and the conservancy offer maps and a glimpse at some rather ambitious plans.   This is a nice park that is close to civilization.

https://www.sugarlandtx.gov/Facilities/Facility/Details/Cullinan-Park-64

Alexander Hodge, American Revolutionary War Veteran

While my friend Don and I were lost in Sugar Land's Cullinan Park (remember we had become accidental BMX riders) we stumbled (almost literally) apon a rustic old cemetery on the Northwest edge of the park.   We stayed on the edge of the cemetery as I do like to respect the dead.   As we caught our breath, I could see a street sign for Old Richmond Road on the other side of the plot of land.   I resolved to do a little research.    Many of the markers are wooden crosses close to six foot tall.    There are a couple of tombstones, but the place does not look real well kept.  Was this another prison cemetery? 

That afternoon, I did a little research, and then drove back to the cemetery.

Hodge's Bend Cemetery is on land settled by Alexander Hodge, one of Austin's Old 300 settlers.  He brought his family to Texas in 1825 when he was about 65 years old.   His sons fought in the Texas Revolution.    Alexander, his wife and many of his descendants are buried here in Hodge's Bend Cemetery, on Old Richmond Road, just outside Sugar Land city Limits.  These were some of the earliest Anglo settlers of this area, and of Texas.

What really makes him interesting is that Alexander Hodge, while still in his teens in the late 1770s, fought in the American Revolutionary War with Francis Marion, known to all of us 1950s Disney fans as - The Swamp Fox.  Their exploits and successes are legendary, and Fort Bend County, Texas is the final resting place of one of those soldiers.

Had we not gotten way off the planned route, we would never have seen this.

By the way, Spell Check and I fought with each other all the way through this little story.   Apparently, there is no "A" in "cemetery"    Who knew?

Sugar Land and Cullinan Park

Friday morning, my friend Don, and I headed from Huntington Village (Alief, Dairy Ashford) to Sugar Land.   This is a vary pleasant bike ride through quiet neighborhoods, all the way to Highway 6. there is a gap in Huntington Estates Dr, but a short ride on the grass will put you in Barrington Place, Sugar Land.

I always enjoy riding throuh Barrington Place as a speed limit sign will check my speed for me!  A little farther on was a mosque that showed we are all pretty similar

Our Baptist preacher had told us if we don't maintain social distance, he will turn this car around!

We always stop in Sugar Mill Park for water, and to watch the ducks.   It's also fun watching the toddlers and pre-schoolers try to feed/chase the ducks!

One of our favorite segments is the wonderful concrete trails in Imperial, the development that include Constellation Field.   Nicely curving, wide, sidewalks, with numerous signs warning of alligators!

Speaking of alligators, we crossed Oyster Creek and headed across Highway 6, North of Sugar Land Airport, and into Cullinan Park, a hidden gem inside suburbia.    I had seen a trail on Google Maps, so we swung onto a very scenic concrete trail that gently swept around the Southeast edge of White Lake.    Somewhere along the line, the trail narrowed to crushed granite, but was still quite navigable for this old fool.  There are little signs that advise you of the flora and fauna of the woods.   Suddenly, we found ourselves on a trail that would be a delight to some 13 year old BMXer, but which was rather frightening to a 67 year old biking neophyte.   I think I re-did my will in my head, and re-newed my relationship with Jesus, as saplilngs jumped in my way, and someone had routed the trail up and over a log by means of not-quite-enough little planks.  There was a definite feeling of being lost in the piney woods, except that clearings would always reveal a cell tower across the lake, and all along  the northern edge of the park, we were usually about 100 feet from a Sugar Land neighborhood.   But we kept going, and eventually found a trail that looked like it had been designed by park personnel, which led us back to the lake's observation point.   This is a very nicely done series of raised boardwalks over a lake that is over-growing with lilies and other water plants.   We saw a family of ducks, pretty common, but while momma was swimming, the ducklings were jumping from water lily to water lily!   Kids are kids!

Next blog will cover the cemetary we found on the Northwest side of the park.   Stay tuned.

Dan